Words From a Master
by DoubleEdgedSword99
Summary: Toshio clapped the boy's shoulder as he passed. Awkwardly, he stumbled over the words he thought might help the teen survive the long, dark night, and then turned to join the hunt himself.


**A/N: Hey, thanks for reading! There's this giant, massively improtant other A/N at the bottom, so if you could read that later, that'd be great... This is set a while after Shiki, give or take a couple years... I use the term _-sensei_ here, not because I'm trying to be cool, but because I honestly think it fits the mood better. I watched the anime with subtitles, and read the manga freshly translated, so that's just how I picture Ozaki Toshio in my head- Ozaki-sensei. This was inspired by an AMV.**

_This is a song lyric. _

**Disclaimer: I don't own Shiki. I also do not own the song "Aim for the Head," or Creature Feature. I only own the fanfiction piece itself.**

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Toshio surveyed the masses below him, down at the square, with indifference. It was the only thing he could think of showing- the memories swelling because of it all were too forceful. He could remember all too well the smell of blood (usually unsensed, but then it had overwhelmed), it's warmth (jumping up the stake and lapping at his fingers, briefly, before settling), and the screams of those he had once known (he remembered each of them well, their heighths and wights and broken bones, but he blocked that out, concentrated on the fading screams instead, listened to them reverberate into the air as he knew he was a monster for laughi)-

"Ozaki-sensei, are you alright?"

Toshio shuffled around, and languidly took in the boy before him. He hadn't bothered to learn his name. (He never learned anyone's name in the villiages he had heard had had a large number of deaths. He supposed he had gotton lucky when it turned out this one actually had an infestation of _them, _an undead concoction of a mosquitoe and a cockroach, and he was the ultimate exterminator.)

The boy shifted his lanky weight from foot to foot, and tightened his grip on the gun he cradeled awkwardly, cupped it between his two, clumsy hands, long fingers clenching and stretching alienly. Toshio exhaled a heavy breath of ciggarette smoke, where it spiraled and disapeared in the chill, spring evening air. Obviously, the sheltered teen hadn't been pushy enough to grab a stake or two from the large pile he had provided. At least he had been resourceful enough to get a gun; where Toshio wasn't sure he wanted to know- a dead body? Or just a kind neighbor?

"Yeah, fine."

He turned back around, only slightly amused by the fact that he could still feel the young man's eyes on his back. He swore he could feel the way his nerves tightened and streched, tightened and threatened to snap with every scatter of a leaf or gust of wind. It made him want to grind his teeth furiously together, just to make a point- man up, or go home!

"Y'know, maybe you should stay away from the fight. Safer. I won't tell."

The words were mocking, insultingly sweet. It felt good to voice the cynical thoughts he usually exhaled into smoke. The shocked silence was enough to tell him the boy's answer; Toshio expected tears, maybe, or retreating footsteps, ready to take advantage of the doctors "kindness." He didn't regret the remark at all. But whatever he had expected, it was not a now shaking voice- in defiance, anger, or fear? He wasn't in touch with his human side at the moment- or, at least, he didn't have enough contact with it anyway to know.

"..._They_ killed my sister."

Toshio looked over his shoulder at the youth. Ignorant.

"And what if she's one of them? Will you be able to pull the trigger?"

"I've thought about that," the boy said, after a moments painful hesitation, "and I thought... Who would wanna live that way? So..."

Conflicted emotions crossed the doctors face- it softened, hardened, and then flashed a display of recognition and regret. And perhaps... Admiration?

"Ozaki-sensei...! We're ready!"

He turned towards the heralds of his couleages, and clapped the boy's shoulder in an awkward salute as he passed. He formed the words slowly, giving out the best advice he could to meet the expectations of the teen. He couldn't meet his eyes as he lifted the hand from his sticky-with-sweat shirt.

"You... Aim for the head."

He still wouldn't learn the boy's name- it was better for them both that way.

_"With a loaded gun,_

_With a steady hand,_

_We just might live through this..._

_Aim for the head!"_

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**A/N:This will be a series of one-shots that are in no way connected, and some will be drabbles-some yaoi, lot's of AUs- it's just a thing to give me a break from what I normally do. I'll take requests. Each chapter will have the line "aim for the head" in there somewhere, since these are all songfic-y. The summary will change with every update; which might not be for a while...**

**Review if you're nice (yes, even though the ending was less than I had hoped for)! I think this site needs more Shiki fics, but hey, I won't know unless you tell me. 'Till next time! -Edge**


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